How did 190lb Jack Dempsey DESTROY super-heavyweight 240lb Jess Willard?

Willard was 37 like Wlad K.

 

Then somebody should have replicated the feat since than.

 

Who was subsequent 37 year old farmhand, amateur boxer who had taken the better part of four years off to defend his title?

The circumstances were far rarer than the outcome.

 

And Wlad has successfully defended 9 times over the previous 4 years, staying active and fresh while Willard had defended once to a draw over the same period.

And Wlad has been a pro for just short of 20 years and 67 fights while Willard was a pro for 8 years and 26 fights.

So, yeah, exactly the same.

 

Willard was himself not only old at 37 but highly inactive coming into the bout .. Dempsey was the best he would ever be .. the standing over the fallen opponent was a huge matter in this fight as Willard had no time to regroup after being it .. under today's rules it might be another fight entirely .. also, and I'm sure I'll hear **** for it but something may not have been 100 percent right w Dempsey's gloves .. I'm not saying cement but Kearns did have a ton of money on him early and I've never seen any of the same visible, physical damage on any other Dempsey opponent be it Carpentier, Firpo, anyone ... that was Collins/Resto type damage done there ..

 

It was a combination of factors. Willard had been extremely inactive since winning the title in early 1915. He basically only had one fight in the next four years. Inactivity and rust at anything leaves you less than your best.

Now combine that with the fact that Dempsey was a young hungry lion who had been very active, who was an extremely explosive hard-punching fast starter, somewhat like the Mike Tyson of his era, who had proven able to chop down tall men very quickly.

 

Say what you may, but the fact remains that Jess Willard was NEVER floored before, and though rusty as a heavyweight, took everything that Jack Johnson
threw at big Jess for 25 rounds without even staggering Willard in a hot Havana sun...Yes Willard was not a young fighter agewise, but he had few fights equivilant to his age and not burnt out. And that silly old bromide to disparage Dempsey that he had a horsheshoe, a brass knuckle, an anchor from a Navy battleship etc, was debunked by Nat Fleicher and photos of Dempsey entering the ring sans boxing gloves...If he had plaster of paris in his hands as some speculate he would have busted his knuckles time and again as Doctors testified...And to say that Dempsey never again showed much power is B.S. He flattened big Fred Fulton in 14 seconds with two punches that rendered Fulton unconscious. He flattened the bullish Angel Firpo
with a one-two punch so fast and powerful and mighty impressive. Do you doubters today think that the boxing public of those harsher days were less informed than some of the posters who love to belittle Jack Dempsey today, 90 years later ? Hell No I say...For his weight Jack Dempsey and Fitz were the most explosive heavyweights ever along with Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano...I believe a Sam Langford, a Mickey Walker, a Gene Tunney, a Jack Sharkey, a Max Schmeling, a Ray Arcel and a host of other boxing experts who saw Jack Dempsey wreck havoc in the ring over today's naysayers who love to belittle him...And remember even the great Joe Louis hit a big
easy to hit lumbering Abe Simon with every punch in the book for 13 rounds until the ref stopped the fight with Abe Simon protesting the stoppage...
No way Simon lasts more than a few rounds with the prime Manassa Mauler...

 

Do you think Dempsey would opt for modern bigger gloves than he hit Willard in real life or do you think he would say "no, I think I can do more damage with theses old ones"?

 

The reality is that the first Joey Giardello v Joey Giambra fight in eastern parkway arena October 1952 was the first time 8oz gloves were used with a new shock padding designed by Cornell university laboratories for air force pilot crash helmets. The New York boxing commission decided to use this fight to test the new technology after complaints of ring deaths using traditional 6oz horse hair gloves. tests showed that the horse hair stuffing would seperate and offer less than adequate padding.

Today 10oz gloves are used.

And yes fighters still get knocked out and damage and death still occurs. But it will take more blows to floor a fighter than before. Maybe the old gloves were more merciful?

 

You wouldn't have near the same impact damage with larger gloves, there's an argument that a concussion is the same though, personally I don't think it is because the I believe the speed of impact is slowed by the glove.

The neutral corner rule means Willard has valuable seconds to recover and compose himself prior to Dempsey attacking him again. And instead of just hitting a rising opponent he has to get past his jab again, which he was doing well enough before so he'd still manage it but not as easily.

Not all fights have the 3 KD rule but a ref may stop it if he thinks Willard is concussed and not walking to him on steady legs.

 

I take it you have no issue with Panama Lewis?

 

I think that firstly, Willard is a little over-rated. What I have seen of him on film does not impress me that much. Having said that, he had a good beard and good stamina and strength if nothing else. Dempsey is an ATG p4p puncher in my opinion, and was simply too fast and hit too hard for Willard. After Willard got buzzed, Jack simply gave him no room and finished him off brutally. Dempsey's book on boxing is very illuminating as to how he managed to generate so much power, and I don't think many other boxers of the day had his understanding of the technique required to be as explosive as he was.

 

Hell, many boxers today would do well to read Dempsey's book as well

 

Did Willard wear pillows for their fight? I always understood both fighters wore the same type of gloves.:think

 

*cough* You are shifting the argument here. For sure Willard would have done more damage to Dempsey as well with the old style gloves. But nobody is denying that.

The argument is whether the old, lighter gloves would have done more damage, period. I agree that they would have. And I think most boxers would agree.

Why else do boxing fans, for example, salivate at the damage that their favourite boxers would be able to dish out with the small MMA gloves?